Sara R. Turnquist's Blog, page 21
February 7, 2018
SPOTLIGHT: Author Misty M. Beller’s “This Treacherous Journey”
Escaping north is her only option…And he’s the only one with the skill to get her there.
Widowed and with child, Emma Malcom is fleeing from the reward offered for her arrest. She’s innocent of the dirty dealings her deceased husband orchestrated, but the angry townspeople didn’t stop to listen to her defense before she narrowly escaped with her life. Now, she and her twin brother, Joseph, must battle the mountain wilderness of the Rockies to reach Canada and the clean start she craves. But when a fall from the rocky cliff leaves Joseph wounded and weak, could the strange mountain man they encounter be God’s gift to see them to safety?
Simeon Grant makes bad choices. His deceased wife and twin babies are lost to him now because of his reckless decisions, and the penance he pays by living alone in this mountain wilderness is only a small piece of what he thinks he deserves. When a city woman, heavy with child, appears on his doorstep with her injured brother, her presence resurrects the memories he’s worked so hard to forget. And when she asks for his help to travel deeper into the mountain country, he can’t help wonder why God would force him to relive the same mistakes he’s already suffered through. Or maybe taking these two to safety could be the way to redeem himself.
But when their travels prove more treacherous than he imagined, Simeon finds himself pressing the limits of his ability to keep Emma and her brother safe. Can he overcome the past that haunts him to be the man she needs? Will Emma break through the walls around Simeon’s heart before it’s too late, or will the dangers of these mountains be the end of them all?
Enjoy an Excerpt
Emma fought a wave of protectiveness as the mountain man peered at Joseph’s arm again. His face was hard to read, but she didn’t like the way he’d tried to get rid of her. He either didn’t know as much about doctoring as he’d made it sound, or the work ahead would be painful for Joseph. Either way, she would be here to protect and support her brother. She’d had more than her fair share of secretive men with hidden agendas, and she wasn’t about to let Joseph suffer more than necessary at the hands of this one.
The mountain man rose to his feet, and she took an involuntary step back as his height towered above her. He was taller than Joseph. Taller than her late husband by at least six inches.
He strode to the other side of the room and opened a wooden box. After rifling through for a moment, he extracted a small cloth bundle and turned to face her. “I’m going to get a splint. Steep this in a tea for your husband.” He tossed the parcel, and she barely caught it in the crook of her right arm.
“He’s not…” She started to correct him about her relationship to Joseph, but the man slipped out of the cabin and shut the door before she could finish.
She held up the pouch, tied closed with a strip of leather, then glanced over at the pot warming on the hearth beside the fire. Should she make a whole kettle of the tea, or just one cup for Joseph? Her poor brother was pale as fresh milk, and his mouth was pinched in a tight line. If this was meant to help his pain, he’d need a whole pot full. She crossed to the fire and poured the contents of the pouch into the metal pitcher.
With the tea steeping, she knelt on Joseph’s good side and stroked the hair from his brow. “How’re you feeling, love?”
“Hurts.” Joseph didn’t open his eyes. And the fact that he didn’t try to make light of his pain or sound reassuring gave truth to the intensity of his anguish.
“I’m so sorry.” She combed through his curls, letting her fingernails skim his scalp in a way she hoped would be soothing. “I think we’ve found someone who can help you.”
As if summoned, the door opened, and the mountain man stepped inside again. He wore buckskins like the frontiersmen they’d seen in Fort Benton. Except this man even wore them on his feet, laced up to his knees. She’d only seen Indians wearing shoes like that, and even then, she’d only seen drawings on flyers advertising Wild West shows as she and Joseph had traveled up the Mississippi.
Was this man an Indian? His dark hair appeared more brown than black, even in the dim light of the cabin. And those blue eyes… They’d been piercing as he’d stood in front of his home like a sentry, glaring at the two of them. No, he didn’t look the way she’d heard the redskins described.
Although maybe there was something a little savage about him. No, not savage, just…wild. Something that made you take a second look at him. Something she wasn’t sure if she should fear or admire.
Buy Links
More About the Author
Misty M. Beller writes romantic mountain stories, set on the 1800s frontier and woven with the truth of God’s love. For a limited time, you can get her bestselling novel, The Lady and the Mountain Man, FREE here: http://bit.ly/2gvrW1a
She was raised on a farm in South Carolina, so her Southern roots run deep. Growing up, her family was close, and they continue to keep that priority today. Her husband and daughters now add another dimension to her life, keeping her both grounded and crazy.
God has placed a desire in Misty’s heart to combine her love for Christian fiction and the simpler ranch life, writing historical novels that display God’s abundant love through the twists and turns in the lives of her characters.
Connect with Misty and her books
Website: http://mistymbeller.com
Twitter: @MistyMBeller
Facebook (Author Page): MistyMBellerAuthor
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/misty-m-beller
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/MistyMBeller
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/MistyMBeller
Amazon (Author Page): https://amazon.com/author/mistymbeller
The post SPOTLIGHT: Author Misty M. Beller’s “This Treacherous Journey” appeared first on Sara's Desk.
February 5, 2018
February 2, 2018
GUEST POST & GIVEAWAY: Author Daisy Townsend
by Daisy Townsend
Recently I became obsessed with finding a rug just the right size for a floor area we wanted to cover in our bedroom. The size rug we needed wasn’t easy to find, not being a standard size. I measured several times and pictured what the different-sized rugs would look like in our bedroom. I hunted at Ollie’s and online.
One day I noticed the carpet remnant on the family room floor left over from when we’d had our upstairs carpeted four years ago. The longer I looked the more sure I became that this carpet remnant was exactly the right size for the area we wanted to cover in our bedroom. (A standard size rug would easily replace the remnant in our family room.)
When Donn and I carried the remnant to our bedroom, we found it was a perfect fit! I kept thinking of the irony of how hard we’d tried to find the perfect rug when we already had exactly what we needed. I wondered how often in life we do the same thing─go out searching for what we think we need when we already have it.
One woman I knew had been married many years to a good man but decided she wasn’t happy. Eventually she left her husband and found the man she thought she wanted. Things didn’t turn out well. I asked her gently, “Do you have regrets?” Sobs shook her whole body as she nodded. “So many regrets.”
I read of a similar case of a woman who spent many years complaining to her calm, easy-going accountant husband and her friends about the unexciting life they led. When Tim died of a heart attack in his forties, Diane found the man of her dreams. He was debonair and charming, an exciting date. However, after they married, she discovered he wanted to party every night and cared little about managing finances. Later, Diane told a friend, “I wish I had married someone who was content to stay home and good at managing money.” Her friend looked at her and said, “Someone like Tim?” God had given her exactly what she needed, but she’d been too blind to appreciate him.
This reminds me of two of my favorite children’s books: Old Hat, New Hat and The Best Nest. The moral of each story is the same. In Old Hat, New Hat the bear sets out to buy a new hat. He tries on or looks at 31 different hats, but finds something wrong with each one. (Do you remember? “Too big. Too small. Too flat. Too tall. etc.”) In the end, he puts on his old hat, looks in the mirror and says, “Just right! Just right. Just right. Just right.” He leaves the store wearing his old hat with a smile on his face.
In The Best Nest, Mr. Bird loves their nest and sings often, “I love my house. I love my nest. In all the world, my nest is best!” Mrs. Bird has a different opinion but in the end, after looking at many other nests, Mrs. Bird also realizes that the nest they have is, after all, the best nest.
Old Hat, New Hat and The Best Nest have happy endings because the “people” come to appreciate what they already had. However, in the real world, as in the other two stories I shared, the endings aren’t always happy. We may leave a marriage, a job, a house, or any number of places or situations, and later, when we realize the value of what we had, we discover it’s too late.
Charles Stanley recently said many people love to quote Psalm 37:4 (Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart), but fail to understand that the promise has a condition we must fulfill. Psalm 90:14 says, “Satisfy me early with your love that I may delight in you all the day.” As the Lord becomes our delight, He aligns our desires with His.
If we find ourselves unhappy and dissatisfied with our marriage, our job, our church, our home, perhaps the first step shouldn’t be to look for a new man/woman, job, church, home. Perhaps the first step should be to ask God to satisfy us with His love so that we can delight in Him and trust Him to give us the desires of our hearts. In many cases, we may discover that He already has.
Father, forgive us for trying so hard to find what we want that we’re blinded to the fact you’ve often already given us what we need. Amen.
Daisy, thank you so much for this post and for being on my blog today. If I may, let me turn our conversation toward your novel, Sarah’s Legacy. What was your inspiration for this novel?
We researched the history of our home (over 100 years old) and I was so inspired by some of the former residents (late 1800’s-early 1900’s) that I decided to write a Christian historical fiction based on some of their lives. A 95-year-old friend whose husband lived in that house from the age of ten provided more history that prompted me to write the book.
That inspiration just sparked, huh? Did you always want to be a writer?
As a child, I wanted to be a wife, mother, and writer. I have published writers on both sides of my family an older sister and now a niece who are published writers. Maybe it’s in my blood!
Sounds like it! How long does it take you to write a book?
My first book was a compilation of devotionals written over many year’s time. It took me a year to compile them into an autobiographical devotional book, including writing more devotionals and editing previous ones. Sarah’s Legacy, my first fiction, was started in 1998, put away in a box maybe six months later when my life became too busy, then finished in 2015-2016 after Homespun Faith was published and people were asking, “What will you write next?”
Maybe I’m being sneaky here…but could you tell us something about your novel that is NOT in the blurb?
Polly Dye finds much more than she was looking for in the diary of Sarah Davis, previous owner of their 19th century home…
Intriguing… Do you have any current projects you’re working on? Care to share?
I’m working on the second book in the Sarah’s Legacy Series, Sarah’s Legacy Shared.
Daisy, thanks again for being on the blog and for answering my random questions. I won’t keep my readers from digging deeper into Sarah’s Legacy, so I best stop my rambling 
January 31, 2018
INTERVIEW & SPOTLIGHT: Author K.R. Martin
Hello, readers! Today is a great day to introduce you to one of my fellow Clean Reads friends, author K. R. (Karen) Martin. And if you enjoy pirates, history, adventure, romance, a combination thereof…has she got a novel for you! I am so eager to jump into the interview so Karen can speak for herself, that I’ll stop gabbing and get right to it
January 29, 2018
January 26, 2018
INTERVIEW & GIVEAWAY: Author Danielle Doolittle
Welcome, readers! I have another Clean Reads author for you to meet: Danielle Doolittle. AND…congratulations are in order as today is her 10th Wedding Anniversary as well! CONGRATULATIONS, Danielle and hubby!! Hope your day is filled with wonderful things
January 24, 2018
ADHD/AUTISM: Are we making any progress!?!?
I think one of the hardest things about living with ADHD/Autism is this very issue: ARE WE MAKING ANY PROGRESS!?!?
First, I think I should share a few things about my kids:
My son who is autistic is high-functioning. If they still had the Asperger’s diagnosis, he would fit in that classification most likely. And our pediatrician was very hopeful that with the right therapies, he would “lose his diagnosis during his elementary years. How does an autist “lose their diagnosis” you ask? Well, they don’t truly. He will always be autistic. His mind will always work differently (not a bad thing, I love how his mind works). But he will (with work), lose his qualification for services.
This same son who is on the spectrum also has ADHD, but not severely.
My daughter who has ADHD is a severe case. Her behaviors indicative of this condition are very apparent and rather difficult for her and us to manage even with medication from time to time.
“Mountain Top” Seasons and “Valley” Seasons
I use the word season here because I mean a period of time. Sometime it’s a couple of days, sometimes it can be a couple of weeks. But it’s rarely shorter. But there seems to be this pattern with my sweet kiddos and their behavior challenges.
I like the mountain/valley illustration for this because it definitely feels like an up and down kind of thing. And it feels almost cyclical, to the point its even routine. Can anyone relate?
Some days it seems we are on the “mountain top” – everything is going well, everything seems to be clicking, and we’re on the “home stretch”. Then other seasons are definitely of the “valley” type where we struggle, struggle a lot, and struggle hard.
Two Steps Forward and One Step Back
There are definitely times in our progress that it feels this way (2 steps forward and 1 step back). Let me first say that the successes with both Autism and ADHD are HUGE! They are worthwhile and they are AMAZING! Because you work and fight so hard for progress. You really have to celebrate those victories because there are definitely times when they are few and far between. But it does happen that we take a huge leap forward (ergo “two steps”) in one area, only to have a set back in another. This can be very frustrating, as you can imagine.
Say my son who is autistic is showing signs of becoming more interested in others socially. Like, he goes up to a stranger at the doctor’s office (in the “Well Waiting Room” of course
January 22, 2018
January 19, 2018
INTERVIEW & SPOTLIGHT: Author Amy Anguish
Hello, all! Here I am again with a new author for you to meet: Amy Anguish. This is an author I have connected with through the ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) through the local chapter. Not only is ACFW an (actually) international organization with wonderful opportunities to network through their genre groups and online classes and critique groups, there are local chapters in which you can get to know writers in your area face-to-face. This is a chance to form relationships that allow you to encourage and sharpen each other on a more personal level. I just love it!
At any rate, that is how I have come in contact with Amy. And I am excited to have her on my blog to tell us about her book, An Unexpected Legacy.
Welcome to my blog, Amy! Thanks for joining me. First, can you tell us a little about your novel.
I wrote it during Nanowrimo 2011. When I started, all I knew was that they were going to meet at a smoothie shop, and they were going to have a family history that would cause conflict. I started writing anyway. As I continued adding words, the story sort of took off and finished writing itself. My husband actually laughed at me towards the end as I shook my hand at my computer screen, and said, “Just quit angsting already and finish the story!”
My characters are bad about that, too. It’s one of the fun things about “pantsing” (writing by the seat of your pants). So, did you always want to be a writer? If not, what did you want to be when you were a child?
I actually wanted to be a baby-sitter when I was little. As I grew, that changed to artist and then graphic artist. But after one semester of being an art major in college, I switched to English and never looked back.
I can totally relate. I think that I hit a Babysitters Club phase. But whatever book I was into, that’s what I wanted to be
January 17, 2018
ADHD/AUTISM: Our story
So, last week, I shared about my son’s diagnosis with high-functioning autism at 2 years old. That’s not the end of the story BY FAR. I would say that last week was more about that diagnosis and a bit of our story. But today, let me give you a wider view of my story with both autism and ADHD (attention deficit hyperactive disorder).
AUDREY AND ADHD
My sweet Audrey, my daughter was always high energy. From the time she was little. We always said she had two speeds: on and off. And when she was on, she was full on. She was only truly off when she “crashed” at night. It was almost as if she was driven by a motor. There was certainly something fueling her. (If only we could harness such energy, right?) We mentioned it to her pediatrician when she was probably three, but no doctor worth their salt will worry with a diagnosis of ADD/ADHD that early. It’s just too soon to tell.
Enter the school years. It’s still a little early to diagnose such a condition, but her situation was severe. She’d had problems in her PreK program sitting still and focusing. But we wrote it off to her high energy. Once she had a Kindergarten teacher that communicated well with us, we began to see the marked difference between her and her peers. More than that, the teacher said “she really wants to follow directions and comply, she just can’t seem to make herself”. So, we went back to her pediatrician. And started the process of diagnosis.
In the end, between the doctor and a psychologist, we wound up with ADHD. And the road of medication. We were not excited about it. But we went over the pros and cons, discussed the severity of her situation, and did what any parent can do in any situation: we made the best decision we could with the information we had.
It took three years and three different medications before we found the right one at the right dose.
ANDREW
Meanwhile, our Andrew has graduated from occupational, speech, and developmental therapy and started school. He is ongoing in ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) Therapy in the home and at school.
And we run into the same issue. Focusing problems. We’d heard it all before.
But we’re chalking it up to the autism.
Back to the pediatrician.
The co-morbidity (two things occurring at the same time) of ADHD and another condition is apparently not as uncommon as I would have thought. The doctor was certain it was ADHD. Back through the diagnostic process. The diagnosis stood.
Medication for him too.
What does all this mean in real life?
Well, it creates some challenges with our routine.
The autism piece means that we thrive in routine.
The ADHD piece means we have to be aware of the medication, the time, and eating patterns.
My ADHD kids are built like dad was at that age, on the thinner side, so we gotta make sure they get plenty of calories. So, if they don’t like what I fix for dinner, we can’t do this “well, this is what we’re having”. Nope, we have to give them another option. When they needed a bedtime snack, I was doing veggies or fruit. “Not a chance,” the doctor said. “Ice cream, cookies, the works.” The DOCTOR says this.
Homework must be done right after school while there is still some of their medication in their system and they can focus. But we must have a regimented bedtime routine to help them prepare for sleep as their meds can make sleep difficult. (It is not uncommon for autistic individuals to struggle with insomnia anyway.)
Discipline becomes a new ballgame. One that is a minefield. We have the regular discipline challenges, but we have the added worry of “is this something he/she can control?”. When dinnertime comes, for example, my daughter doesn’t have the self control or the ability to stay still that she otherwise would have or that other kids would have. So, I don’t set the same expectations on her to stay in her seat, for example. She is better now that she’s older. But it doesn’t feel fair to me to punish her for something she has limited control over. It’s paramount to punishing her because her hair is blonde, in my mind. At the same time, I want to help her learn appropriate behavior… Why, oh, why, don’t they come with manuals??
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